Mike Gross is the kind of man who never cuts corners – in his work as a home builder, in his care for his family or in the way he has faced cancer twice. He describes himself as a man who lives with integrity, clarity and courage – and above all, a man who loves deeply.

In May 2024, Mike went to see a physician after feeling unwell for some time. Dr. Louis Shaheen with Aultman Medical Group Mansard Medical sent him for an X-ray. The results changed everything: There was a mass in his left lung.

Mike quickly underwent additional tests, which revealed the cancer was already in his lymph nodes and had spread throughout his body. It was small cell, Stage 4 lung cancer.

Surgery wasn’t an option. The path forward was immediate chemotherapy and radiation. Mike didn’t flinch. “Just go with it,” he said. “Whatever the doc says, that’s what you do.”

He had walked this path before in 2009 when he faced kidney cancer and beat it. But this time was different. When the PET scan came back, and his body “lit up like a Christmas tree,” he had his first breakdown.

Dr. Raza Kahn, an oncologist at Aultman Cancer Center, told him the truth: The goal wasn’t a cure, but time. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but it was honest. And Mike respected that. “Don’t sugarcoat anything,” he remembered telling Dr. Kahn, a physician Mike described as a straight shooter whom he trusted completely.

Mike decided then to face everything head-on. He took care of end-of-life arrangements: he bought burial plots and prepaid everything including his wake and luncheon so his wife, daughter, son and three grandchildren wouldn’t carry that burden later. “I’m not afraid to die,” he said, “I’m scared to leave my wife and my family. I’ve taken care of her for over 37 years.”

Through it all, Mike says he has tried to remain open-hearted, generous and wise. He posts on social media, offering to talk with anyone newly diagnosed with cancer. He wants others to know they’re not alone.

“Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” he said. “If I can help other people, I will. If someone needs me to sit at treatment with them, grab a coffee or buy them a meal to talk, all they have to do is call me.”

He takes things one day at a time. “I do what I can every day because I don’t know what the afterlife brings,” he said. He finds peace at Bisel United Methodist Church in Dover and in the unwavering love of his family.

And there’s one more place where Mike feels truly cared for: Aultman Hospital. “The nurses, the staff, Dr. Kahn – they are amazing. They all know me by name,” he said. “Dr. Kahn always puts his hand on my back and says, ‘You OK, buddy?’ And I ask them, ‘Do you guys really care this much or do you go to acting classes?’ Because you can feel the care in everything they do.”

And while Mike hopes that day is far away, when the time comes, he wants to die at Aultman. “Even then,” he said, “I know I’ll get the best care.”